Dynamically deployable self configuring distributed network management system with specification defining trust domain membership and/or privileges and data management computing component
Systems, software, and methods for managing networks of connected electronic devices are described. In one example, network management policy and network management applications are transferred automatically upon detection and identification of a new device, protocol or application on the network. In another example, information related to at least one aspect of the network is obtained by an NMAS, and at least one applicable management policy is identified by the NMAS; and the identified policy is used to manage at least one aspect of the network's operation.
1. A network management system comprising:
an arrangement of network task managers deployed on a network, subnetwork or host computing system(s), said arrangement of network task managers comprising non-transitory storage media storing at least one specification defining trust domain membership and/or privileges including specifying:
at least one task manager software authorized to operate on a trust domain,
at least one hardware computing component upon which the task manager software is authorized to operate,
at least one network collection software,
at least one collection hardware computing component upon which the network collection software is authorized to operate,
at least one network collection specification specifying information the at least one network collection software is authorized to collect from the network,
at least one data manager software, and
at least one data management computing component upon which the data manager software is authorized to operate;
wherein the at least one hardware computing component upon which the specification authorizes the task management software to operate includes a processor, storage, network interface, and operating system software, the at least one hardware computing component upon which the specification authorizes the task management software to operate executing said task manager software to at least in part manage the trust domain,
wherein the at least one collection hardware computing component including a processor, storage, network interface, and operating system software, the at least one collection hardware computing component executing said network collection software to collect information about the network, subnetwork or host computing system(s); and
wherein the at least one data management computing component including a processor, storage, network interface, and operating system software, the at least one data management computing component executing said data manager software.
2. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one specification defining trust domain membership and/or privileges provides an authorization to install the data manager software on the data management computing component.
3. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one specification defining trust domain membership and/or privileges provides an authorization for the task manager software to communicate with and control the operation of the data manager software on the data management computing component.
4. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one specification defining trust domain membership and/or privileges provides an authorization to configure the data manager software on the data management computing component.
5. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one specification defining trust domain membership and/or privileges specifies information to be managed by the data manager software at least in part within the at least one network collection specification.
6. The system of claim 1 wherein the network collection software and the data manager software are configured to communicate therebetween.
7. The system of claim 6 wherein the at least one specification defining trust domain membership and/or privileges authorizes communicating between the network collection software and the data manager software.
8. The system of claim 6 wherein the task manager software configures the network collection software and the data manager software to communicate therebetween.
9. A system of claim 1 , wherein the task manager software and the data manager software are configured to communicate therebetween.
10. The system of claim 9 wherein the task manager software is configured to communicate, to the data manager software and the network collection software, a specification for information communicated between the network collection software and the data manager software.
11. The system of claim 9 , wherein the task manager software is configured to provide a status check of operations of the data manager software.
12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the task manager software is configured to communicate with the data manager software, determine the status of the data manager software, and take an action based upon determined status.
13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the action comprises restarting the data manager software.
14. The system of claim 12 , wherein the action comprises reconfiguring the data manager software.
15. The system of claim 12 , wherein the action comprises altering the at least one specification defining trust domain membership and/or privileges, instantiating new data manager software, and configuring the new data manager software to operate using at least part of the network collection specification.
16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the action further comprises configuring the network collection software to communicate with the newly instantiated data manager software.
17. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one specification defining trust domain membership and/or privileges includes at least two specifications for the data manager software and at least two specifications for the data management computing component.
18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the task manager software and at least two data manager softwares executing on respective specified data management computing components are configured to communicate therebetween.
19. The system of claim 17 , further including the two data manager softwares sharing at least some of the information stored in or by one of the at least two data manager softwares, said sharing being defined in the trust domain, and the task manager software configures the data manager softwares using configuration specification in the at least one specification defining trust domain membership and/or privileges.
20. The system of claim 19 wherein said network collection software is configured to forward collected data to the data manager software along a route selected based at least in part on priority.
21. The system of claim 1 wherein said at least one network collection software is configured to store collected data individually for different data manager softwares.
22. The system of claim 1 wherein said at least one network collection software is configured to push collection data to said data manager software.
23. The system of claim 1 wherein said at least one network collection software is configured to cache and push collection data to said data manager software.
24. The system of claim 1 wherein said at least one network collection software is configured to cache and preprocess collection data, and then transmit at least part of the collection data to said data manager software.
25. The system of claim 24 wherein said at least one network collection software is configured to digest and push collection data to said data manager software.
26. The system of claim 1 wherein said at least one network collection software is configured to cache collection data, preprocess the collection data, and make at least part of the collection data available to said data manager software for retrieval.